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Petites Timbales De Pigeon a LA Supreme

Small pigeon meat timbales filled with forcemeat, mushrooms, truffles, and served with supreme sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Petites Timbales De Pigeon a LA Supreme

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the forcemeat

  1. Remove the meat from the pigeons.

  2. Pound the meat with the suet and bacon in a mortar.

  3. Rub the mixture through a wire sieve.

  4. Return the mixture to the mortar.

  5. Add the butter, chopped mushrooms, panada, and Allemande or velouté sauce.

  6. Season the mixture with pepper, salt, and aromatic spice.

  7. Work the mixture thoroughly.

  8. Gradually add the whole eggs and egg yolk.

Mould and steam

  1. Butter twelve small timbale molds.

  2. Line the molds thickly with the mixture.

  3. Place a dessert spoonful of salpicon in the center of each mold.

  4. Fill the molds with the forcemeat.

  5. Cover the molds.

  6. Place the molds in a sauté pan.

  7. Add boiling water to steam.

  8. Cover with buttered paper.

  9. Bring to a boil.

  10. Steam in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes.

Serve

  1. Turn the timbales out.

  2. Dish them in a circle.

  3. Garnish with a mushroom head and a piece of truffle on each.

  4. Pour supreme sauce over and around them.

  5. Garnish with puff paste flourishes and sliced ox tongue.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Butter + truffletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pigeon meat
Provides the main flavour and the body of the forcemeat.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the forcemeat moist and tender when steamed.
Eggs
Bind the forcemeat and set it into a firm, sliceable timbale.
Panada
Thickens the forcemeat and helps it hold together with moisture.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the forcemeat.
Mushrooms
Add earthy aroma and moisture to the forcemeat.

The step that matters

Working the forcemeat and adding the eggs. Eggs set when heated, so they must be blended in gradually and evenly. Overworked or lumpy forcemeat can turn dense or curdle, and uneven binding can make the timbales crumble when turned out.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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